For a young child to learn a racket sport, the first obstacle to overcome is that of general co-ordination. The acquisition of the skills required to experience a racket sport as a fulfilling activity requires the development of a high level of neuromuscular co-ordination. Holding a racket and making it connect with a ball to project it with the desired direction and speed is a complex skill which is difficult to learn, especially for a young child. A child learning to do this needs to learn in a way that is not too advanced, which could lead to frustration, and also in a way that will be stimulating so that the child does not get bored.
At present, equipment for teaching children and allowing them to learn elementary co-ordination and racket skills includes miniature rackets, most commonly made of plastic and provided with soft sponge balls. These rackets feature short handles, which facilitate easier control of the ball than in an adult-size racket because the racket head is nearer the hand of the user in the case of miniature rackets.
Miniature rackets are also lighter than adult-size rackets, thus making it easier in some cases for children to use them. However, difficulties have been encountered with some of these rackets where a shorter handle has been combined with a racket head which is almost as large as that of an adult racket. This resulting imbalance or heaviness in the head impedes learning, in particular the correct learning of basic racket skills. The relative heaviness of the racket head leads a young child to “drop” the wrist, instead of keeping it in the “cocked” position, and to use rotation at the wrist joint to generate racket head speed during stroke execution.
There are many toy products on the market not based on traditional racket design but which require catching and hitting skills for their enjoyment. For example, an option on the market is an arrangement where two discs are supplied with a furry ball. One side of the discs is covered in VELCRO or “suckers” to which the ball adheres, and the other side is supplied with a strap for holding the disc to a hand on its palm side. This device helps a child improve basic catching skills.
The designs of these currently available learning aids have some shortcomings some of which have been noted above. Another disadvantage of a previously available learning aid is that a child still has to learn how to hold a miniature racket correctly whilst at the same time developing the skills of hand-eye coordination. It can be difficult to learn these skills simultaneously.
It is an aim of the present invention to facilitate the development of improved methods of teaching and learning general co-ordination and in particular stroke production skills for racket sports.